Wesley Hilliard
Scammers utilized a fake event stream, a faked Apple website, and the promise of free Bitcoin to scam unsuspecting fans during the iPhone 13 reveal event.
People looking for the Apple Event on September 14 may have stumbled into a lookalike stream, showing old interviews with Apple CEO Tim Cook instead of the "California Streaming" stream. Those who stuck around saw messages pop up in the video telling them to visit a special website: www.2021.apple.org.
As reported by Zscaler, the website looked like a fake version of Apple's website, advertising a Bitcoin giveaway. All the person had to do was send 0.1 to 20 Bitcoin through a QR code to have double that amount sent back.
This was a scam, but there was just enough care taken to convince people it was legitimate. Over $69k was sent to that Bitcoin wallet showing the scheme was highly successful.
Those with some technological background might spot the several flaws with the website, from the grammar problems to the .org URL. However, most people with just a passing understanding of technology could have easily mistaken such a website for a legitimate promotion.
The scammer's website is currently down and will likely remain down after successfully swindling folks out of $69,000 in Bitcoin.
Scams like this have occurred on YouTube before, with random channels being hacked to display Bitcoin promotions. Steve Wozniak is suing YouTube over that event, since his likeness was used to promote the Bitcoin fraud.
Christine McKee
Malcolm Owen
AppleInsider Staff
William Gallagher
Oliver Haslam
16 Comments
I'm sorry, but if people are smart enough to obtain bitcoin AND get scammed out of it, I have little to no sympathy. This website has "scam" written all over it.
You'd think - "Send us money, and we will send you more back" may be a hint of bullsh**. Free lunch analogy?
Like the above commenters, I can't even begin to be sympathetic. In what world does someone trade less money for more. (Maybe money laundering???) Who would ever believe Apple might be involved? This isn't even remotely close to something Elon would promote. Ignorant people should NOT be taken advantage of, and that is just what these scams do.
So like 1.5 btc? Not very good scammers